Argumentative Essay On Horace Mann

Horace Mann, the father of education, made the bold statement that if one lacks education, they are no better than a swine. In a world where only the rich were literate, he dreamed of equality between classes and he thought education was the way to get there. Obvious improvement has been made since 1848, but students still learn at unequal rates. Afraid to refer to it as a "civil rights" issue, the problem is ignored even as income, gender, race, and even immigrant status like Antonio Alvarez writes about, forms a gap between the privileged and disadvantaged. Due to the negative connotation and history of "civil rights," people blame drive to succeed instead of viewing the clear problem, brushing it under the rug like Ross Douthat highlights.
When looking further into the system today, however, the problem that Mann had wanted to avoid is hidden under the surface. He wanted everyone to learn the same material because “it does better than disarm the poor of their hostility towards the rich: it prevents being poor”. Mann was a firm believer in the power of education and how being intelligent should be what matters more than the money you came into. This sentiment does not extend to 2018, apparently, as the rich grow richer and everyone else falls behind. The people that can hire private tutors, attend better schools, and have more support at home will obviously surpass their counterparts. Opportunities like these should be open for all; simply because it is called "equal education" does not mean this is truly the case. If education were really equal, higher income families wouldn't have the chance to glide through college while others struggle to obtain financial aid. Kids that live in low-income communities wouldn’t be forced into less than ideal schools, despite their intelligence, and deprived of the learning that would allow them to thrive. In Mann's system the "distance between the two extremes of society" would be diminished, instead of secretly expanding like it has
After a while, it is almost difficult to disagree with this notion. We hear countless "rags to riches" stories and are constantly bombarded with an onslaught of "you can be anything if you try hard enough". Hearing this, one wants to believe that through hard work you can prosper. However, these stories are few and far between. Of course, you have to work hard to do well, but that's not all there is to it. Alvarez, an extremely intelligent and hardworking student, cannot live the life he deserves. "I could not work anywhere I wanted and was limited to low-wage jobs". Alvarez can work one hundred times harder than a well-off student, but because his parents made a decision when he was a child, he was punished. His undocumented status caused doors to be closed to him and they will continue to be, having nothing to do with his "drive". He is just one example, however. At one time he thought "there was no point to continuing to work so hard in high school," because it would get him nothing. Other students give up, and this is not because they have less drive, but because they see the reality of the situation and the system makes them demoralized instead of giving them